I know those water ram pumps you mean, though I'm not sure if that's what they're called. AFAIK they use a trapped air space and valves to 'bounce' incoming water at high pressure, which slows down the water as it leaves and also provides enough additional pressure to move a smaller quantity of water upwards. I don't think they're especially efficient nor are they super high pressure, but they are relatively simple to build and service, and have few moving parts. if you live adjacent to a fast flowing stream, i've heard they're a good solution. (of course you could also use a modern impeller pump, or even en electric intermediary pump but that's much higher tech)
Any waterdriven pump solution takes energy from the flowing water by slowing it down, lowering it, or both. Some is lost to friction etc and the rest can be converted into energy to pump a smaller amount of water elsewhere.
Well, if you insist on taking an illustration of a grander principle literally then I'll let you have your watchmaker (for the moment) :-).
Actually there are naturally occurring underground aquifers where the same thing happens and sometimes capillarity even temporarily outweighs gravity (think rising damp).
Gould of course loved to tweak two dimensional visions in science (as in religion!) and delighted in pointing out false dichotomies by locating them in their historical context. Long term incremental geological processes often do occur, however, and at a more or less even rate: the Nile did flood every year; continental drift is slow but the Himalayas are there.
What is important to understand though is that often these increments pass unnoticed (don't leave much dramatic evidence) until they accumulate. A single drop of rainwater can make a dam burst but only if it has been preceded by many previous showers: a straw can break a camel's back(more on camels later:-). Catastrophes do occur but the question is, will it be 'the fire next time'?
Unfortunately I have to go back to work. Will contribute more tonight (downunder time)
Am thoroughly enjoying re-visting all this Murray, please keep posting.
oscar Junior Member Joined: 5 Oct 2008 Posts: 4 Location: Sweden Expertise: I like coffee
Posted Sun Oct 5, 2008, 8:48am Subject: Re: urgent
As a very junior member I missed this message back in 2004 but I promise that I have kept vigilant the last 4 years, still no sign of Messiah! :-( but plenty of good coffee though! :-)
Symbols: = New Posts since your last visit = No New Posts since last visit = Newest post
Forum Rules: No profanity, illegal acts or personal attacks will be tolerated in these discussion boards. No commercial posting of any nature will be tolerated; only private sales by private individuals, in the "Buy and Sell" forum. No cross posting allowed - do not post your topic to more than one forum, nor repost a topic to the same forum. Who Can Read The Forum? Anyone can read posts in these discussion boards. Who Can Post New Topics? Any registered CoffeeGeek member can post new topics. Who Can Post Replies? Any registered CoffeeGeek member can post replies. Can Photos be posted? Anyone can post photos in their new topics or replies. Who can change or delete posts? Any CoffeeGeek member can edit their own posts. Only moderators can delete posts. Probationary Period: If you are a new signup for CoffeeGeek, you cannot promote, endorse, criticise or otherwise post an unsolicited endorsement for any company, product or service in your first five postings.
= No New Posts since last visit 